Date archive for: April 2013

Every developer blames his or her predecessor. Whenever we get to work on, or maintain, a codebase that was developed by someone else, the first impression is always a negative one. Along with second, third, forth…up to nth. Someone else’s code is always worse than what we would’ve developed, given the opportunity. The design is wrong. The code is messy. There is insufficient documentation. The problem could’ve been solved in a more efficient way. Variable names too short. Variable names too long. Truth of the matter is – even when we look at our own code years later (and sometimes much sooner) we criticize it in exactly the same fashion. But after years of dealing with unrealistic deadlines, last minute changes in requirements, and “visionaries”, who cannot explain what they want, yet want it to work exactly the way they envision it, I’ve learned to make a distinction between “necessary evil” and complete incompetence.Continue reading How to make enemies